


Looking Away Isn’t Easy

by borntoblue



Category: A Pink (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, F/F, Kpop Olymfics, Mentions of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-08 10:09:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10384314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/borntoblue/pseuds/borntoblue
Summary: Everything the camera system sees about Jung Eunji's trip to the movie theatre, and everything it misses entirely.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [kpopolymfics2017](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/kpopolymfics2017) collection. 



> This fic was written for K-Pop Olymfics 2017. Olymfics is a challenge in which participants write fics based on prompt sets and compete against other teams of writers, organized by genre.
> 
> This is Team AU’s fic for the following prompt set:  
>  **Dean – "bonnie & clyde"**  
> [lyrics](https://colorcodedlyrics.com/2016/03/dean-bonnie-clyde) | [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=425l9_6ARjE) | [supplementary](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chloecoislier/24477358390/in/photostream/) [prompts](http://theskepticisafool.tumblr.com/post/23950688941)
> 
> The other 2 fics for this prompt can be found in [the collection](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/kpopolymfics2017). Competition winners are chosen by the readers, so please rate this fic using [this survey](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fTZSAie2cEixJakutWC7_uBsrnbmd93FQweGjx_lgf0/edit)!

This is what the cameras see:

A hotel valet from Busan named Jung Eunji stands outside the movie theatre for an hour before the seven thirty showing of a movie called "Sister," released last year and fully approved by the content board.

Other people walk by her and into the theatre, presumably to see "Sister" because none of them are registered movie theatre employees and no other films are showing tonight. Retired couple Seo Jihoon and Lee Hyemi, a student named Shin Donggeun, a single retired woman named Kim Jiyoon, a government intern named Park Chorong, and a young couple named Kang Yoona and Lee Jaeseok all enter the theatre and the camera system doesn't flag any of this as unusual because they are all regular theatregoers, but it does flag Jung Eunji, who is still standing by, now leaning against a lamp post.

A minute before "Sister" begins, a movie theatre employee named Oh Hayoung who stands behind the ticket counter calls out to Jung Eunji, saying the movie's starting in a minute, and Jung Eunji goes inside, visibly deflated.

This footage is reviewed later and de-flagged, as although being stood up is irregular, it is not truly suspicious. Furthermore, a review of Jung Eunji's text messages confirmed she had plans to see "Sister" with another hotel employee, a regular moviegoer named Kim Namjoo, who had to work overtime and could not send Jung Eunji a text message relaying this fact until she finished with her overtime work at eight.

(After figuring this out, the surveillance officer who reviewed the footage felt a little bad for Jung Eunji, actually.)

 

 

 

This is what the cameras don't see:

Eunji doesn't bother with the dejected act once she's far enough away from the door.

She tries not to look excited, either, that would be memorable to onlookers and she should try to be at least a little serious for this occasion, but she doesn't make herself look miserable as she approaches the theatre proper because the closer she gets, the more her heart hammers and it's hard enough to look just normal amounts of excited, never mind looking upset.

It's exciting to be on a mission after weeks of downtime, and even more so than that, the prospect of seeing Chorong for the first time in months has Eunji having to take deep breaths in front of the theatre's double doors to calm down.

A public room is never a safe room, she reminds herself. Cameras or no cameras, she can't risk drawing too much attention to herself.

Chorong or no Chorong, she can't risk a mission like that.

Still, Eunji's heart beats a mile an hour as she opens the theatre doors.

The movie is already playing, the starting credits are being shown on top of images of a woman moving about a dusty, messy house, washing her hands and popping stovetop popcorn. Eunji can already tell the movie is as artsy as Namjoo said it was because the images in themselves aren't interesting but the way they're framed is. Eunji even finds herself watching for a couple seconds, taken in by the large screen automatically, but Namjoo told her all about the movie specifically so she wouldn't be distracted by it and once she remembers that she looks away, hoping her eyes adjust quickly so she can see— 

Chorong. Sitting in the very back row, the look in her eyes so far away she can't possibly be paying attention to the movie.

Eunji draws in a sharper breath than she should.

Even in the poor movie theatre light Chorong looks pretty. Even in the poor movie theatre light Chorong's face looks so blank that it kind of scares Eunji, for a second, before she remembers that's what Chorong looks like day-to-day when working in the capital. Being in the capital at all is dangerous for both of them, but it's worse for her. She can't risk even a small expression slip-up.

Eunji hasn't seen her like this much. It makes it harder to approach, but after a second, Chorong's eyes slide to the side and she gives Eunji a little smile.

Eunji relaxes instantly, a larger smile growing on her own face as she walks down the row and silently takes the seat next to Chorong.

They both look at each other, and for a moment that feels long, neither of them say anything.

Eunji had thought talking to Chorong would come naturally, it usually does, but after so long with the cameras, now that she can say anything she has no idea where to start.

Chorong's so close Eunji could kiss her now, and some part of Eunji desperately wants to, but they can't _do_ anything dangerous in here, only say anything.

Even with that restriction there are too many possibilities. So many things Eunji wants to say, and not even two hours to say them. Where does she even start?

But Eunji never has to make the decision, because before she thinks of anything clever or solemn or loving enough for her liking, Chorong starts out by leaning over and whispering:

"Hey."

Even in the quietest whisper she can manage, hearing Chorong's voice is a thrill.

"Hey right back at you," Eunji whispers in return, and on impulse she adds, "I missed you."

Chorong smiles more fully this time, a soft smile that makes Eunji's heart ache a little, "Missed you too. Is the capital treating you well?"

Eunji doesn't need to ask to know that what she really means is "are you used to the cameras yet."

"As well as it can," Eunji answers, and that's the truth. There's no getting used to this, for someone born in a free city. When they said that in training they meant it more than she could have imagined. Even after months here, spotting a camera on a street corner depresses her, and remembering that they're watching her is worse. "How about you?"

"I live here most of the year, I'm used to it," she lets out a little exhale, the equivalent of a sigh at the volume they're speaking. "Everything's gone according to plan so far, so that's a relief."

Eunji nods. That's a huge relief, and it answers the next few questions Eunji was going to ask her. One of the characters on-screen, one of the sisters probably, asks the other why she won't consider leaving.

"You're supposed to have a new plan for me?" Chorong continues, and Eunji, calmly as she can, pulls a flash drive out from a small pocket in the hem of her shorts.

Chorong takes it, sliding it into a low inside coat pocket. Anyone looking back at them wouldn't have been able to see the exchange at all thanks to the seats in front of them.

People from the side would have been more of a danger, but they are the only two in the back.

Eunji's mission is done now, technically. They have the rest of the runtime of "Sister" to talk, as long as they're discreet.

Eunji hears another snippet of the movie's dialogue, something about not knowing anything, and then one of the sisters yells at the other, and the loud noise startles Chorong into looking forward for a second.

Eunji continues to look at her. It wasn't so long ago that she was seeing Chorong's face every day, getting to touch her nearly that often, but now, the length of a movie and no touching is all they get.

She wishes she could think about something else, but she tries so hard not to think about Chorong at all most of the time that now, with Chorong in front of her, every thought she suppresses, both the happy and sad ones, are all bubbling to the surface.

It feels like she's wasting her time.

"Do you have anything fun to talk about?" she whispers to Chorong.

Chorong tears her eyes away from the screen and smiles at the question, "Depends on your definition of fun."

Hearing Chorong say something that's nearly a joke brings back the excitement from before, chases any thoughts of limits and long wait times from Eunji's brain.

"You know me well enough to know what that is," Eunji near-teases back, and Chorong starts to tell her about some day-to-day stories about working in the government.

Chorong goes on about these stories for a while, casual talk nearly anyone would share, and stays away from references to the resistance while telling them, which Eunji wouldn't usually appreciate in talk about the government that put them in this situation, but right now forgetting about danger is just what she needs. It's Chorong, anyways, Eunji knows all her real opinions on her cover job.

Eunji in turn tells Chorong about what working in a hotel is like and the movie plays on in front of them, going through its progressively weirder, darker twists and turns until one of the sisters is looking at the body of the other both in the television screen and on the floor.

"Did the movie we meet at have to be so brutal?" Chorong whispers at one point, even though they both know the movie was picked only because of its timing.

"It's not even that bad," Eunji whispers back, now half-watching as the living sister desperately searches through the dusty house from the opening sequence. "There's no gore, at least."

Chorong winces as the living sister finds a gun in a closet, "The contents, though. I thought we weren't supposed to have violent movies anymore."

"Namjoo told me this one was a bit debated by the content board," they both watch the living sister burst out of the house, followed by a shot where the television behind the dead body changes to show the living sister run down the dusty highway, gun in hand. "But it got through in the end. One of them really liked it, apparently."

Eunji goes silent after saying that, remembering that in Namjoo's description of "Sister," this part happens near the end.

"You should move to a different seat soon," Eunji whispers, quieter than before even, half-hoping Chorong won't hear her, but of course she does.

"Yeah," is her only reply.

They look at one another, away from the near-climactic moments on the screen, and Eunji decides to take at least one risk.

Eunji grabs both of Chorong's hands in hers.

"You know I miss you, right."

Chorong looks down, avoiding eye contact, "You said that already."

"Doesn't make it not true."

Chorong squeezes her hands, tight enough that it should hurt but only Eunji's chest does, "I miss you too."

Eunji wants to say more, but she's afraid that she'd start crying if she said "I love you," and she doesn't want to pretend this movie moved her that much.

After an hour and a bit of near-freedom she doesn't want to pretend at all anymore, but there are months of this ahead.

Chorong's real job is only getting started, and separation is the price they have to pay in the meantime. Resistance doesn't happen overnight, that's another thing they drilled into Eunji's head during training, but right now she wishes it did.

All she wants is to go home, go to sleep, then wake up with Chorong beside her and no cameras in sight.

It's not going to happen for a long time, but as Chorong stands up to move a few rows in front, Eunji wants it more than ever.

Chorong looks over her shoulder as Eunji watches her, gives her one last wave and a sad smile, then sits down.

So close and so far.

Eunji tries to watch the movie's final moments, but her heart isn't in it. She knows how it ends already.

It doesn't end nicely, and she doesn't need to watch that on top of Chorong leaving.

 

 

 

This is what the cameras see after:

All eight people who entered the theatre to watch "Sister" exit the theatre promptly. Movie theatre employee Oh Hayoung begins to close the ticket office down. None of these people exhibit unusual behaviour. Jung Eunji, who was flagged earlier, opens the text message from Kim Namjoo that contains her apology for not showing up and an invite to another movie to make up for it.

Jung Eunji replies that she doesn't feel like seeing a movie again anytime soon.

Given the sombre content of "Sister" and the content of her texts, the camera system thinks that's fair.

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, this fic was written for the team-based fic event Kpop Olymfics, which requires reader participation to determine winners, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd check out [the survey to determine this fic's score.](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fTZSAie2cEixJakutWC7_uBsrnbmd93FQweGjx_lgf0/edit) Thank you. <3


End file.
